Within each heart there are 4 chambers. The right atrium, right ventricle, left atrium and left ventricle. The right side of the heart receives poorly oxygenated blood from the body and pumps it to the lungs so that the blood can receive oxygen. Then the oxygen rich blood flows to the left side of the heart and is pumped out to the body so that all of our muscles and organs can receive the nutrients needed from the blood stream.
Within Rowan’s heart there are 2 normal sized chambers, the left atrium and the left ventricle. The right atrium and ventricle are tiny and missing a valve. They cannot affectively pump blood to the lungs. This is called Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome.
Within each heart there are major vessels and connections that are tubes which move blood either towards or away from the heart. The Superior Vena Cava and Inferior Vena Cava are veins that bring poorly oxygenated blood to the right side of the heart from the upper and lower parts of the body. Blood moves through the right side of the heart and into the Pulmonary Artery. The Pulmonary Artery is the tube that goes from the heart to the lungs.
Within each heart there is a Pulmonary Vein that oxygen rich blood flows through as it returns to the heart, the left side this time. The left side of the heart then pumps blood out through the Aorta and to the rest of the body.
Within Rowan’s heart, the Pulmonary Artery and the Aorta are plugged into the wrong place. Blood from the right side of the heart pumps to the rest of the body instead of the lungs, and likewise, blood from the left side pumps to the lungs instead of the body. This is called Transposition of the Greater Vessels.
What is incredible is that this is not a death sentence. This is something that can now be surgically fixed thanks to the work of many dedicated cardiologists and surgeons. Rowan faces a rough journey, but I look forward to the day when his teacher can begin her “Within Each Heart” lecture and he can raise his hand and say “Except Mine” and know that within his heart is an incredible machine that may not follow the lectures we all heard, but is unique unto him.
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